Case Number 24300: Small Claims Court

THE HUNT (2010)

The Charge

Run if you can.

The Case

Richard Connell's short story The Most Dangerous Game has been told
and retold in plenty of feature films, almost from the point of its publication.
We don't really need another one, but I love the story and am always happy to
watch people hunt each other under most any circumstance. Here we have The
Hunt, a French action-thriller that puts a little twist on the tale and
makes for an entertaining time.

Alex (Jellali Mouina) is a young tabloid journalist under the gun for a real
sensational story. His girlfriend (Sarah Lucide), a dominatrix, hangs around
with some pretty shady characters, so Alex goes to her for a tip. She tells him
of a rich and powerful client who attends some pretty strange meetings at an
estate in the woods. Alex knows a scoop when he hears one, so digs a little
deeper and, finally, finds himself out at the mansion. This isn't some kind of
meeting of the Moose lodge, these guys run a high stakes hunt where the game is
man and the prize is a box full of cash. Impersonating one of the hunters, he
tries to infiltrate the group, but quickly finds that he is the prey.

I haven't seen director Thomas Szczepanski's Ossessione, but The
Hunt gets me intrigued about what else is up his sleeve. He doesn't try to
reinvent the story, just give it a fresh twist in a short time, only 74 minutes,
to deliver a solid piece of action horror. On all those counts, he succeeds. The
short running time hearkens back to the original 1932 film version of The
Most Dangerous Game, which is still one of my favorite action movies and
runs even shorter. The story's origins make it almost immediately recognizable,
meaning he didn't have to get too deeply into back stories or side plots; he
just delivers the goods.

The scenario is enough of a blank slate that one can put any number of
twists on it and still keep it structurally intact, and Szczepanski does just
fine with his interpretation. The infiltration angle here is somewhat fresh and
making a game out of it involving multiple hunters gives it a little broader of
a potential body count than the original story provides. The action is well
directed and there's a good amount of violence, much of it fairly graphic for
the obviously low budget. Ultimately, The Hunt is a satisfying piece of
action with plenty of suspense and a bit of creep factor thrown in that I can
totally recommend.

The DVD for The Hunt comes to us from MVD in a bare-bones, but
technically sound edition. The standard definition 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen
transfer is decent for a small feature like this. It has the digitally enhanced,
color-corrected look that a lot of independents sport these days, and while it
isn't a terribly filmic look, it does look crisp and clean, with good black
levels and color tone. The Dolby 5.1 Surround mix isn't terribly dynamic, but
the rear effects and low end get a little bit of a workout during the action
scenes. There are no extras.

The Hunt is a small movie that doesn't try to do too much, and that's
probably its biggest recommendable point. Szczepanski doesn't try to alter the
original story very much and, where he does change things, it makes sense in a
modern action context. It's not particularly scary for a horror film, but it
balances the horror and action very well and, at a mere 74 minutes, there's no
reason not to give it a shot.